Databases are widely used for data storage and access in computing applications. A goal of database storage is to provide enormous sums of information in an organized manner so that it can be accessed, managed, and updated. In a database, data may be organized into rows, columns, and tables. Databases are used by various entities and companies for storing information that may need to be accessed or analyzed.
A cloud data warehouse (also referred to as a “network-based data warehouse” or simply as a “data warehouse”) is a network-based system used for data analysis and reporting that comprises a central repository of integrated data from one or more disparate sources. A cloud data warehouse can store current and historical data that can be used for creating analytical reports for an enterprise based on data stored within databases of the enterprise. To this end, data warehouses typically provide business intelligence tools, tools to extract, transform, and load data into the repository, and tools to manage and retrieve metadata.
When certain information is to be extracted from a database, a query statement may be executed against the database data. A cloud data warehouse system processes the query and returns certain data according to one or more query predicates that indicate what information should be returned by the query. The data warehouse system extracts specific data from the database and formats that data into a readable form. However, it can be challenging to execute queries on a very large table because a significant amount of time and computing resources are required to scan an entire table to identify data that satisfies the query.